The superintendent shared by two rural school districts in Fairfield County plans to order
two-sided business cards, with a Berne Union side and a Walnut Township side.

Dale L. Dickson will assume his duties when the new school year starts.

He will be paid $140,000 annually, with each district paying half.

The school boards that govern the 950-student Berne Union district and the 680-student Walnut
Township district hired Dickson at a joint meeting Wednesday.

They are the second pair among Ohio's 611 districts to share a superintendent. The Orrville and
Rittman districts in Wayne County in northeastern Ohio have shared a superintendent since 2008.

The Fairfield County districts made their shared-superintendent decision independently of Gov.
John Kasich's call for shared services among school districts and local governments, but the goals
are the same: to save money.

Dickson, 51, has been superintendent of the Perry-Hocking Educational Service Center since 1998,
and he was superintendent of the New Lexington school district in Perry County before that.

He said yesterday that he is excited to be in the forefront of what he believes will be a
statewide trend toward more money-saving job sharing and service sharing.

"In these tough economic times, we need to be mindful that these are limited resources and this
is one way to save - by sharing the costs of administrators," Dickson said.

"Parents are sending us two of their most precious things, their children and their tax dollars,
and we need to be good stewards of both."

Dickson, who lives in New Lexington, said he plans to spend alternating days in each district.
His drive from his home to either district is about 25 miles, he said.

He said he will not receive a car allowance or gas money for his commute.

His three-year contract with the two districts allows either district to opt out of the shared
arrangement after giving a six-month notification. If that happened, he would stay on as Berne
Union's superintendent.

Dickson said he expects that both districts will be happy with the job-sharing.